3rd Trimester
Pressure on your OB to deliver before the end of the year...
So I had by 24 week appt today and my dr. was running way behind. When she finally made it to me, she apologized and said she had patients with tons of questions today. I asked a little bit further and she began to tell me about several of her patients who are close to being due and them pressuring her to deliver them before the end of the year. I chuckled. She said, that no she was very serious. She has had husbands pulling her to the side and calling her trying to talk her into it. Ummmm...tax break? However...she did reveal...that despite her holiday plans, she had ONE day set aside between Christmas and New Year's to push 'em all through. Is your tax break worth the fact that you might be battling for attention while in labor from your OB with 10 other women? Just curious to hear from others who are in this boat.
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Re: Pressure on your OB to deliver before the end of the year...
People are hard up for cash I guess. There was a post on the multiples board where she came right out and admitted that was her reason.
https://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/46385919.aspx
Mine is due Jan. 12, but based on the peri's opinion today, I will probably be induced somewhere around x-mas because I have a big baby/GD issues. But I wouldn't ask to do it just for a write-off or something.
DH and I tried to aim having LO towards the end of the year so we could hit the tax break and I see nothing wrong with that but obviously it didn't work. I do not think I would ask my OB to induce me or schedule a c/s just for the tax break though.
I'm due January 1st, and for me personally, no amount of money would be worth the risk of an unnecessary c-section from an induction (inductions are twice as likely to result in a c-section.) I'm quite annoyed with this situation, since I'm worried that if I go into labor naturally in late December, the maternity ward will be filled with mothers who chose elective c-sections and inductions, and the nurses and doctors will be stretched too thin.
My ob's standard practice is to not induce until 42 weeks unless there is a medical reason. I don't know if it is my due date, or because many pregnant women ask for inductions, but at every visit the first thing the doctors say is that they won't induce. I interrupt and explain that I'm not interested in an induction and they seem very relieved.
I think I had the reverse situation. I had a Dr use it to try to get me to agree to a RC/S. With my 2nd I was due Jan 5th. She told me if I scheduled a RC/S, I could have my baby 12/29 and have a tax deduction.
Unfortunately I still ended up with a RC/S, but baby was safely born Jan 8 and much farther away from xmas. I'm happy with how it all turned out.
Our CPA told us that if you deliver on Jan. 1st, you can still take the tax deduction. Just FYI.
I don't care that much about the tax break if these babes are born early, I just want them out so I can breathe/sleep/eat/function again. Officially due Jan 10th.
I honestly can't believe that doctors and women are OK with that. I understand that if you're already planning a c-section around the 1st of the year or know you have to be induced for something else, why not do it before the first of the year? But if tere is no reason to induce early it seems highly irresponsible to put financial interests before the health of your child. We all know that inductions can lead to a cascade of interventions and there are risks.
People do this allllll the time. It makes me kind of sick to think about now, though, where it wouldn't have in the past...
DS was born 6 days early...so pretty much on time. Everything was wonderful, perfect, etc, I thought. And then my poor little baby couldn't regulate his temperature. I had him home for a few days, took his temperature because DH thought he didn't feel right (it was 95 degrees) and I couldn't even wake him up. We rushed him to the ER, where they admitted him immediately. They checked him for all kinds of infection and the final verdict was that for some reason he was behaving like a preemie. He spent some days in the isolette at the hospital, and has been fine ever since. After talking to the doctors, they explained it to me in a way that made total sense...gestation is 38-42 weeks...so it was very very possible that DS's particular gestation may have been 42 weeks, and in that case, he was 3 weeks early. So after doing that, I have been kind of overly paranoid about early inductions, even if you're close. Obviously I understand C/S's and needing to deliver for medical reasons, etc. But to induce just to induce scares me now, where it didn't so much scare me before. I know this kind of situation is rare, but it does happen.
This. Not to mention, there are great health risks to baby and mom due to unnecessary interventions... which might reverse the benefit of the tax break.
I'm due in early Feb, and had my old OB pushing for a C-section on Dec 28... yeah, I don't think so lady. I was 16 weeks and had a low-lying placenta. I kind of wondered if she wasn't trying to meet some quota there for 2010 also.
Also agree with PP that I'd be seriously pissed if I were legitimately due at the end of December but were competing with all the "I want a tax break" ladies.
I don't see why anyone cares how anyone else decides to have their baby. I'm pretty sure it is still a personal choice, not a competition. We are all gonna have our war stories about how L&D went. What's the big deal if people want to have their baby early for the tax benefit, the insurance costs or because they are just ready to be done.
Who Cares!!! As long as they are comfortable with the decisions they make and so is their DR it's none of my business.
My Chart My Nest Bio
While I don't care how a person has their baby, I do give a side-eye to someone who would induce for a tax benefit/insurance benefit/they're just ready to be done. It's a potential risk to the baby, plain and simple. Most of the time things end up just fine, but if they don't and there's a problem, there is no amount of money that can make that better. I wouldn't have felt that way before I had my son, but after my experience, I do now have those feelings, and he came when he came, I was not induced.
Our deductible goes up to $10,000 next year. Delivering one week early means we pay exactly $0 (already met the OOP this year). I personally am jealous of all the women who wouldn't have to think twice about finding an additional $10,000...
I'm not sure I buy inducing to get the $500 tax break, but when we're talking about thousands of dollars, it's totally understandable. What I hate is that our health care system is so F'ed up that women have to consider their insurance deductibles when deciding what's best for their families.
Trust me, I'd much rather wait until he's good and ready, but I just flat out don't have $10,000.